Slide fasteners, such as zippers, have long been used for securing together a pair of overlapping fabric portions defining an access opening for and facilitating the placing on and removal of a garment. The zipper is typically attached to the overlapping fabric portions, however, as is typical for trousers, the overlapping fabric portions are also further secured together at the waistband adjacent the upper end of the zipper. A button, hook, or snap is typically provided in the waistband area. This additional closure permits the wearer to first draw together and secure the fabric portions, and then more easily move the zipper to the closed position.
It is not unheard of that a wearer will secure the button, hook or snap, yet forget to close the zipper. At other times, the zipper may accidentally slide open if it is improperly closed or during movement of the wearer. Obviously, an unintentional opening may cause considerable embarrassment to the wearer.
Attempts have been made to address the problem of a zipper accidentally coming open. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,271,832, 2675,559, and 2,656,579 disclose attachments to conventional zipper slides that, when the zipper slide is in the up and closed position, retain the zipper slide in the closed position. U.S. Pat. No. 3,271,832 discloses a hook on the zipper slide that is secured to a receiving loop for a conventional hook waistband closure. Similarly, U.S. Pat. 2,675,559 discloses a ring carried by the slide to secure the slide to a portion of a conventional snap in the waistband of a pair of trousers. U.S. Pat. No. 2,656,579 discloses a relatively bulky hook-like member that extends up and over the edge of the waistband of the trousers to maintain the slide in the closed position. In each of the above noted examples, the overlapping fabric portions at the waistband are subsequently secured together by a conventional button, snap or hook and loop after the zipper slide is up. Thus, the wearer may still accidentally forget to close the zipper. Moreover, it is also desirable that any modification to a conventional zipper be relatively compact and simple to operate.